Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo - Chapter 1 Part 1

Chapter 1 – You’re Coming to See Me

 

 

“You totally did that on purpose! You rotten, braided four-eyes!”

 

Lunch break, inside the reading space in the library. There, I, Amatsuyu Kisaragi, a.k.a Joro, was standing up while shouting as hard as I could to the girl in front of me.

 

“Hm? I was just imitating the way you’re being mean to me, but why are you calling me out like this?”

 

The girl, Sanshokuin Sumireko a.k.a Pansy, didn’t seem to be bothered by it as she plopped down in the chair next to me.

 

“The hell are you talking about?! The thing that you’ve done was way worse than what I did to you!”

 

…Okay, look, in this situation, it might seem like I was the as**ole for yelling at a girl, but believe me, I had my reasons.

 

While it was true that I wasn’t the most reputable guy around.

 

But even someone as low as I was had standards. I wouldn’t stoop that low.

 

That was why, hear me out for a bit.

 

The reason why I did this was because this girl tried to make me lick her worn-out shoes. (T/N: Would.)

 

I told her to try to please me, but that was what she did, of course I’d get angry!

 

Let’s use common sense for a second. I was a healthy high schooler with a love for breasts. This girl completely disregarded that and tried to make me lick her shoes with a shy face. Of course I wouldn’t do that, I wasn’t into that kind of thing. Hell no!

 

“F**k this, I can’t stand this anymore!”

 

Now, the anger that I had been storing since volume 1 prologue had exploded. Prepare yourself, you b**ch!

 

“…Sorry.”

“In the first place, you— Huh? What?”

 

Oi. I didn’t expect this development at all.

 

This girl had never shown any kind of remorse no matter how many times I yelled at her, but this time she actually apologized?!

“You’re freaking me out…why are you apologizing all of a sudden?”

 

The Pansy that I knew was stubborn, selfish and would quickly get all sulky if things didn’t go the way she wanted. The sulkier she got, the bigger the scale of the harassment she’d give me. All in all, she was the worst girl in existence.

 

And that kind of girl was apologizing to me… I guess the sky was going to fall tomorrow, huh?

 

“It’s my fault, so shouldn’t I be apologizing? I know what you wanted, but I purposely did something completely different from that and harassed you instead…”

 

What I wanted, she said. I didn’t want anything big, I just wanted to see her true appearance.

 

Usually, she styled her hair in braids, wore d**b looking glasses and her chest looked as flat as a board. She was an old-fashioned girl with those three disappointing traits. But, in truth, she had another appearance.

 

An appearance that would please me whenever I saw it.

 

“I’m the worst, aren’t I? I knew that there’s only one way that I could please you, and yet, I…”

 

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that my opinion of hers took a 180 degree turn whenever I saw her untying her braids, taking her glasses off and releasing the sash she tied around her chest.

 

Her silky long hair, calm-looking eyes, well-defined nose and small, yet alluring lips.

 

All those traits complemented each other perfectly.

 

To me, she was the prettiest girl in the world (her personality was not taken into account).

 

…Though, I would never say that out loud to her even if my mouth was torn open.

 

Meanwhile, I was the King of Idiots who was deceived by her beauty and promised to come by the library every day a week ago.

 

Ever since then, I haven’t missed a single day yet. Hence why I wanted her to give me a reward.

 

Anyway, that was the end of the explanation.

 

“U-Um…”

 

I was taken aback by Pansy’s unexpected action to the point that I involuntarily sat back down in my chair.

 

“But, there’s something you need to hear first.”

 

The way she looked at me with an excited gaze made me think that she was about to inject some poison into my veins.

 

Except it wasn’t poison that I got, but a really, reaally bad premonition.

 

“…W-What is it?”
“I love you. I mean it.”

 

Those of you who were exceptionally perceptive might have realized it. She…loved me and she was proud to admit it.

 

“What are you planning this time?”

 

By the way, I hated her. (Not her appearance though.)

 

Why did I hate such a beautiful girl, you ask? Two words. Her personality.

 

“Nothing. It’s just the way you look at me is like a pig asking for food, Joro-kun. Not that I mind, your face looks like a pig originally, anyway.”

 

This girl was the most toxic person I had ever known. Just look at her, spitting venom at me in a matter-of-fact manner like that.

 

She should be the only girl in this world who treated the guy that she loved like a pig.

 

“Anyway, it isn’t like I don’t want to let you see my true appearance, I just don’t want anyone else to see me. We’re still inside the library, a place where someone might barge into without any warning. That’s why, what about we do this somewhere else?”

“And where would that be?”

 

At that moment, her eyes glinted. It was as if she had expected me to ask that question.

 

“Let’s see… A place where we can be together and no one else can disturb us… One particular place came to my mind…”

“Where?”
“Your room.”

“…Seriously? My expectations for you were low, but holy sh*t, you are way more perverted than I thought… Ow!”

 

A moment later, she rammed a book into my face.

 

Even with tears in my eyes, I could still discern the title of the book, ‘Fabre’s Book of Insect.’

 

“You’re the perverted one here, Joro, that’s why I gave you Fabre so that you can clean yourself a little. I just want to go visit your place and have some fun. Why can’t you use common sense a little?”

 

That was the wrong Fabre! The joke was you were supposed to give me Febreze! Not slapping me with Fabre’s Book of Insects! Why can’t you use common sense a little?! (T/N: ‘Using Febreze/ファブる’ and ‘Fabre/ファーブル’ sounds similar.) 

 

“I’m looking forward to see what your room looks like.”

 

She gripped her hands in front of her chest nonchalantly, completely disregarding my suffering! 

 

Positive thinking was good and all, but not everything could be dismissed just by thinking about it positively!

“Oww ow… I’ll never let you get inside my room…”

“But why? I brought another pair of socks, a white one, in contrast to the black one I’m wearing. To appeal to your parents that I’m fashionable and I pay a great deal of attention to hygiene.”

 

There were so many wrong things in that series of sentences.

 

“I’ll say it again. Don’t come to my room.”

“Hm? Is the length of my skirt the problem? Alright, I’ll make it 2 cm shorter.”

“I’ll say it again. Don’t you ever come to my room.”

“…Meanie.”

 

Tch. Did she think acting all sulky would make me concede on this? No way in hell.

 

I could only see trouble if I were to let her into my room.

 

There were various things that I didn’t want people to see. She would definitely make fun of me if she were to find those… Ugh, I shouldn’t think about that possibility, it’d just make me even more afraid.

 

“C’mon~”

“No means no.”

 

She sighed in resignation and leaned her body toward me.

 

A unique fragrance tickled my nose, but I would never be tempted by it!

“If you’re nice to me, I might just give you a nice reward, you know?”

 

Oh really? I could see Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s ‘The Spider’s Thread’ fluttering in front of me cutely.

 

In other words, my life was hanging by a thread… I could see the way to heaven appear in front of me…

 

“No, rather, it’s the way to hell, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll follow you to hell if I have to.”

 

In what world would a high school boy be assured if you were to tell him that you’d follow him to hell?

 

“Is that so? You don’t need to follow me, really. Just go home.”

“…Please? Can you let me enter your room? Just this once?”

 

She grabbed the hem of my uniform and started pulling on it. So annoying…

 

“Stop it! You’re being annoying, just give up!”

“…I see. Fine.”

 

Pansy looked even more disappointed than before as she let my uniform go. But I wouldn’t be fooled by that appearance.

 

“Fine, I’ll give up on going to the pig’s pen.”

 

Alright, if things went like this, then I’d be the winner of this exchange.

 

I didn’t know how or why, but she never lied to me.

 

She was a girl shrouded in mysteries, but I could trust her on that.

 

“Good, just give up. I might like your appearance, but keep in mind that I hate your very being itself.”

“Yes, I give up. I might hate your appearance, but keep in mind that I love your very being itself.”

 

Her words only made me doubt if she actually loved me or not.

 

Anyway, I managed to escape from hell’s door, so yes, good job, me!

 

“Alright, if that’s all, I’ll be off.”

 

Since it wasn’t like I would be seeing her real appearance today, I decided to get the hell away from here.

 

If I were to linger around, the chances of me being dragged into hell again would increase quickly.

 

“See you. Thank you for talking with me again today. I had fun.”

 

As I got up from my chair and was about to head for the exit, I could hear Pansy’s satisfied voice.

 

Oh so you were satisfied? Good, I was frustrated over here and definitely didn’t have any kind of fun whatsoever.

 

*   *   *

 

“Haah…”

 

On my way to the classroom, I let out an involuntary sigh.

 

The cause of my sigh wasn’t Pansy this time, but my class.

 

Up until now, I had been hiding my true personality, pretending to be a pure boy so that I could be popular with everyone. But unfortunately, my plan fell apart and my facade was exposed in a rather spectacular way. Well, up to this point, I could accept it no problem, I mean I was careless, so that was that. Losing my position in class because they accused me of deceiving the two most popular girls in school…also wasn’t the cause of my sigh.

 

That case was already done, I’ve cleared the suspicions of mostly everyone in my class save for a few people…and the people in other grades and years…

 

“Ah, Joro, can I talk with you for a second?”

 

See what I told you? My classmates still talked to me like normal.

 

If they still hated me, they wouldn’t approach me like this.

 

“What’s up, Asunaro?”

 

This girl who was talking to me with a bright smile was Hanetachi Hina a.k.a Asunaro.

 

If you combine both kanjis in her surname (羽立), you’d get the kanji ‘Asuka’ (翌). Combine that with the ‘Hi’ (桧) in ‘Hina’ (桧菜), you’d get ‘Asunaro’ (翌桧). She had a wide forehead and she styled her hair in a ponytail which length reached her shoulders. Her eyes were round and charming, giving out a cute impression. This girl was secretly popular among the boys.

 

“You see, I’m doing a survey all around the school for an article! Can you answer me some questions? So, how confident are you about the midterm exam?”

Asunaro was a member of the newspaper club, it was normal to see her going around the school asking people questions like this. The way she tilted her head and smiled as she used the red pen in her hand like a microphone looked really cute.

 

Apart from that, there was something particularly interesting about her.

 

“Of course. I’ll take the top spot, that’s pretty much decided already.”

“Eh? Yer’ gonna take the top, Joro?!” (T/N: She’s talking in Tsugaru dialect, it’s an unknown dialect for me, so yay. Anyway, I’m making her British whenever her accent comes out.) 

 

Whenever she was surprised or becoming unusually emotional, she’d start talking in Tsugaru accent.

 

She was born in Aomori Prefecture and lived there until middle school. Apparently, there was a park with deers and monkeys near her school back there. Anyway, she usually talked in polite speech to hide her accent.

 

“Just kidding.”

“Oh jeez! You surprised me! So, what’s your real answer?”

 

Her face turned red as she averted her gaze from me. It seemed like she was embarrassed because of her accent. Alright, I should stop teasing her, I don’t want her to get angry at me.

 

“I’m sure I can pass everything.”

“I see. That means there’s only one person in our class that isn’t confident about the midterms!”

 

Satisfied with my answer, she scribbled it down with her pen.

 

It seemed like I was the last person that she interviewed.

 

“Huh, only one?”

“Yes! You already know who it is, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah…it’s her, isn’t it?”

 

While answering that question, I sneakily casted a glance to a certain direction, followed by Asunaro.

 

At the end of our gazes, a certain female student was staring at her notebook with tears in her eyes.

 

“Uu… I don’t get it!”

 

The girl who looked troubled while holding her head was Aoi Hinata a.k.a Himawari.

 

She still looked as cute as ever, but her expression was filled with deep sadness.

 

“Correct! She’s the only person in our class who answered that she isn’t confident about the midterm!”

“Too easy.”

 

Himawari wasn’t exactly the brightest student among our classmates.

 

If I had to name someone who would be having trouble with the midterm, she was the one that came to mind.

 

…Though, treating her problem like someone else’s problem felt a little weird to me.

 

“Haah… What should I do?… If this keeps up, I’m going to have to attend make-up classes!”

 

Normally, I would be the one who helped her prepare for the midterm exam. We had been doing it like that since back when we were in middle school. But, due to a certain incident, our relationship became strained…

 

Well, if she were to ask me to teach her, I guess I could try to think about it…

 

“Should I ask someone to teach me?…”

 

As she said those words, she turned her gaze around the classroom. At one point, her body stiffened. Our eyes met.

 

Then, without averting her gaze, she made baby-doll eyes.

 

…Could I treat this as her trying to send me some kind of sign? If that was the case, then…

 

“Hima–”

“I can help you study, Himawari!”

 

Woah! Asunaro approached her first before I could do anything.

 

“Umm… Are you sure, Asunaro-chan?”

 

If I was a second earlier, I would be the one she could count on!

“After seeing you like that, I just can’t leave you alone! So, what are you having trouble with?”

“Ah… U-Um… Thank you! Umm… I don’t understand this part over here…and this one…”

“Got it! I’ll teach you everything! So, for this part—”

 

D**n! With how my current relationship with Himawari was, it would be hard for me to barge in.

 

Well, whatever, it wasn’t like it had to be me who helped her study… Hmph…

 

“Ah, right! Himawari, wait here for a second.”

“O-Okay…”

 

While I was watching them idly, Asunaro came to my side and whispered something in my ears. I could smell the scent of apples through my nostrils. Honestly, it made me a little excited…

 

“Joro. You see, Himawari said that she isn’t confident about her midterm exam, but do you know that there’s another person who actually isn’t confident, but that person lied and told me otherwise? If you’re free, why don’t you try teaching them? It could be a good conversation starter between you two.”

“Huh?”

“That’s all from me! Sorry to keep you waiting, Himawari!”

 

With a wink, Asunaro turned her back on me and returned to Himawari’s side.

 

I see… There was another person who wasn’t confident, huh?…

 

“D**n! This one is as hard as a bases loaded no-outs!” (T/N: A baseball term. It’s the situation when the bases are fully occupied and the pitcher fails to out a batter. It’s like the worst possible situation for a pitcher like him.)

 

As if in tune with my thoughts, I could hear a boy’s voice coming from the other side of the room.

 

In response to that voice, I turned my head to see a boy studying on his desk all by himself.

 

I guess that was the guy Asunaro was talking about.

 

He was a guy who hated to lose, so much so that he told her that lie despite how much he was currently struggling.

 

Like Himawari, I had been teaching him stuff for exams since middle school.

 

Okay, Asunaro had given me this chance, so time to make use of it!

 

“Oi, Sun—”

“Sun-chan, if you’re having trouble with the exam, I can lend you a hand. Let’s do our best together!”

 

What the hell, you mobs! Why the hell did you call him out before I did?!

Thanks to them I lost the timing to call him out! Since I was a mob like them, I couldn’t just barge in!

 

“Heh, what are you guys talking about? I’m a man, I can do this by myself!”

 

The guy who refused his classmates’ offer for help with a hot-blooded smile was Taiyo Oga a.k.a Sun-chan.

 

He was the ace of the baseball team, a hot-blooded guy with a sporty haircut that completely matched his personality.

 

We had been best friends since back when we were in middle school…at least until the recent incident happened.

 

You see, ever since that incident, we stopped getting along.

 

The incident that took place in mid to late April.

 

Well, actually, even if that incident didn’t happen, our friendship would collapse eventually.

 

He had been holding a grudge on me for a long time after all.

 

The cause of that grudge was the fact that his crush fell in love with me back when we were still in middle school.

 

At first, he didn’t get discouraged by this and he did his best to appeal to the girl, but the world was harsh on him, she didn’t reciprocate his feelings. So, he had been secretly trying to stab me in the back ever since.

 

And so, he laid a trap on me this April, the incident I had been talking about.

 

Being the pure boy I was, I fell right into his trap. As a result, my true nature was exposed for the whole school to see and my position plummeted into the bottom of the school caste.

 

That was the summary of the incident that broke our friendship.

 

But, in the end, it was him who saved me from that predicament.

 

After many twists and turns, he eventually revealed everything he had done in class. He even got onto his knees and apologized to the whole class with the intention to clear my name.

 

But, the thing was, he apologized to everyone except for me.

 

He was trying to make things right, not to make up with me.

 

Thanks to that apology, he didn’t lose his position at school.

 

Like me, he was forgiven by everyone and other classmates were still hanging around him.

 

And so, the incident had settled to a point, but the after-effect of it was still there.

 

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded explanation. This whole thing was the reason why I sighed earlier.

 

Since that incident, my relationship with Sun-chan and everyone else who was involved in it had turned for the worst. One of the people who was involved in it was Himawari.

 

Even though we were classmates, we avoided each other and never made any efforts to talk with each other anymore.

 

That was why I always felt uncomfortable in the classroom. Whenever lunch break came, I immediately went to the library to escape.

 

Well, I didn’t have to go there. If I didn’t make that promise to Pansy, I would be going somewhere else.

 

“Thank you, Asunaro-chan! Your explanation is really easy to understand!”

“Alright! I’m still in the game!”

 

Haah… I guess I couldn’t talk to them again today, huh?….

 

TL: Iyo